Adjusting apparatus for brake-beams in street-car brake-rigging.



L. E. OLIVER & A. OURETON. ADJUSTING APPARATUS FOR BRAKE BE MS IN STREETcAR BRAKE RIGGING. APPLICATION FILED FBB.6, 1911.

99 49 D Patented Aug. 8, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Win /M w lflZ/ZQIE 025W, Z 5. W AM E. OLIVER o"; A. OURETON. ADJUSTINGAPPARATUS FOR BRAKE BEAMS IN STREET GAR BRAKE RIGGING.

APPLICATION FILED I'BB.6, 1911.

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LOUIS E. OLIVER, OF MAYWOOD, AND ALBERT ('JU IKLEl ION, OF CHICAGQILLINOIS.

ADJUSTING APPARATUS FOR BRAKE-BEAMS IN STREET-CAR BRAKE-RIGGING.

To d ll 'uihom it may concern:

Be it known that we, LOUIS E. OLIVER and ALBERT CURE'roN, citizens ofthe United States, and residents of the cities of'Maywood and Chicago,respectively, county of Cook and State of Illinois, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Adjusting Apparatus forBrake-Beams in Street-Car Brake-Rigging, of which the following is aspecification.

Our invention relates to brake rigging for street railway cars and morespecifically to improvements in means for adjusting the brake beams soas to bring the brake shoes into proper position relative to theperipheries of the wheels cotiperating therewith.

The object of our .invention is the provision of means of the charactermentioned. through the incorporation-of which in the brake rigging of astreet car, the brake shoes thereof may be readily, expeditiously, andaccurately adjusted in the manner above mentioned.

A further object is the production of adjusting means as mentioned whichwill be of durable and economical'construction and efiicient inoperation.

Other objects will appear hereinafter. With these objects in view ourinvention consists in improvements in brake beam ad justing mechanismcharacterized as above mentioned and in certain details of constructionand arrangements of parts all as will be hereinaftermore fully describedand partia ularly pointed out in the appended claims- Our invention willbe best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings forming apart of this specification and in which' I Figure 1 'is a bottom planView of a conventional form of street railway car truck to which isapplied adjusting mechanism embodying our invention, and Fig. 2 is asection taken on substantially line m-zv of Fig. 1, a

Referring now to the drawings we-have illustrated therein a conventionalstreet car employing four wheeled trucks of the ordinary type, thebrakerigging thereof being operated in the ordinary manner. Asillustrated in the drawings 1 indicates the car body each end of which'is mounted on the transversely extending body bolster 2. Arrangeddirectly below the bolster 2 is the truck bolster or channel bar 3, thelatter being con-.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 6, 1911. Serial No. 606,785.

same in the position of adjustment. mechanism or operation whereby suchads portion of the body of car being also shown.

Patented Aug. 8, 1911.

movement relative to the latter by means'of the usual king bolt or plate4. Arranged below the bolster 3 are the usual brake beams 5, the samebeing s'wingingly supnected with the bolster 2 for oscillatory portedfor'horizontal' movement through the. movement'of links 5' the upperextremities I (if which are pivotally mounted in the respectiveendsof-the bolster 3, the extremities ot the brake beams 5. beingconnected with said links 5 in such a manner as to permit of oscillatorymovement or adjustment of said beams. Carried by the'brake beams 5 atthe extremities thereof are the brake shoes 6 arranged for cotiperationwith the peripheries of the wheels 7, the arrangement being such thatmovement ofthe brake beams toward the respective pairs of wheels 7effects the forcing of the brake shoes into engagement with said wheelsandtlieconse quent retardation thereof. Further, the arrangement is suchthat by oscillatory adwas justment of the beams5' the positions of the.brake shoes 6 relative to the peripheries of the wheels? cooperatingtherewith may be adjusted so that, in order to efi'ect' the properpositioning of said brake shoes relative to said peripheries it isonlyrequired to oscillate said brake 'Joeams and .to maintain the Thejustment of said brake beams isefiected and' whereby said brakebeams areheld in positions of adjustment constitutesthe present invention, suchmechanism oroperation being described hereinafter."

The brake shoes are normally held in released position, that is out ofengagement with the wheels 7 by means of release springs 8, the upperextremity of said springs being fixed to the bolster "2', the lowerextremities thereof engaging against the outer sides of the beams 5 asin 2.

The mechanism for effecting operation of the brake beams towardand fromthe peripheries of the wheels with which the same cooperate is of theconventional type, such mechanism comprising the relatively stationarybrake lever 9 the upper extremity of clearly shown which is fulcrumed at10 to a stationary bracket 11 rigidly secured to and projecting from thebolster 2. The leve'r 9 interme-i diate its extremities is pivotallyconnected through the medium of a :pin or bolt 12 to j an arm 12 whichprojects from and is rig v V eeaaae 2 and 3 is the floating brake lever13 the upper extremity of which is connected in the usual manner withthe operating brake l rod l4. Said lever 13 intermediate its extremitiesis pivotally connected through the medium of a pin. or bolt 15 with anarm 15 which projects from and is rigidly secured to the other of thebrake beams 5. The lower extremities of the levers 9 and 13 areconnected by the coupling bar 16 so that upon proper pulling or drawingof the brake rod 14: the said levers 9 and 13 will be swung to eifectthe forcing of the shoes 6 cooperating therewith into engagement withthe car wheels. The operation of the levers 9 and 13 and the partsconnected therewith upon the above mentioned drawing or pulling of thebrake rod 14 is old and well known hence will need no further descrition.

The mechanism for effecting oscillatory adjustment of the brake beams 5in' order to effect the adjustment of the shoes 6 relative to theperipheries of the wheels 7 as above mentioned will now be described.

This mechanism is very simple consisting in the provision of connectingrods or bars 17 which are connected at their lower extremities to theextended outer extremities of the pins 12 and 15, there being two ofsaid rods 17 connected with each of said pins, that is one 'at each sideof each of the levers 9 and 13. The upper extremities of the rods 17 arepivotally connected with ears 17 which are rigidly secured to andprojecting from respective sides of the bol ster 2. Interposed in eachof the rods 17 is a turn buckle 18 through the medium of which said rodmay evidently be longitudinally adjusted, the adjacent ends of the rodat the point of interposition of the turn buckle therein beingoppositely screw threaded. "With this arrangement then it is clear thatoscillatory adjustment of the brake beams 5 may be readily effected bysimply rotating the turn buckles 18 since said turn buckles determinethe lengths of said rods 17 In order to facilitate rotation of said turnbuckles in effecting this adjustment the same are preferably providedwith slots 19 into which the end of a tool may be inserted as will bereadily understood. Threaded upon each of the-rods 17 adja cent theopposite extremities of the turn buckle interposed therein are looknuts-20 which evidently serve as a means of locking said rods in theirpositions of longitudinal adjustment.

With the provision then of adjusting mechanism as above set forth in thebrake rigging of a railway car the ready and expeditious adjustment ofthe brake beams in order to effect the proper position of the brakeshoes relative to the wheel peripheries engaged thereby is secured; theconstruction herein described being also adapted to maintain the brakebeams and hence the brake shoes in the are adjusted.

The adjusting mechanism as set forth is durable and economical, the sameis of great efiiciency in operation and is not suspositions to whichthey 'ceptible to readily becoming inoperative.

The provision of such mechanism in the brake rigging of a railway carwill render the same-better fitted to serve the purpose for which it isdesigned since the motorman or driver of the car will be adapted tobetter control the car when the shoes properly engage the peripheries ofthe wheels cooperating therewith. This being so accidents whichfrequently occur by reason of the absence of the proper adjustment ofthe brake shoes relative to the peripheries of the wheels will beeliminated; the company operating the cars being also benefited sincewithout proper adjustment of the braking 'mechanism the car cannot beoperated to its best advantage. 1

While we have illustrated and described the preferred construction forcarrying our invention into effect this is capable of variations ormodifications without departing from the spirit of the invention. We,there-- fore, do not wish to be limited to the exact details ofconstruction as set forth but de sire to avail ourselves of suchvariations and modificatuns as come within the scope of the appendedclaims.

Having described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with a brake rigging for railway cars comprising abrake beam carrying brake shoes, said beam being mounted for movementtoward and from the car wheel peripheries engaged by said brake shoes.said brake beam being mounted for oscillatory movement for efiecting theadjustment of the positions of said brake shoes relative to theperipheries of said wheels, of a bar having one end eccentricallyconnected with said brake beam and having its opposite end heldstationary whereby adjustment of the length of said bar effectsoscillatory adjustment. of said brake beam; and a turn buckle interposedin said bar, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a brake rigging for railway cars comprising abrake beam having brake shoes, said beam being mounted for adjustmenttoward and from the peripheries of the car wheels adapted to be engagedby said brake shoes, said brake beams being mounted for oscillatorymovement for effecting adjustment of the positions of said brake shoesrelative to said wheel peripheries, of a bar-having its lower endeccentrically connected with said brake beam and having its upper endheld stationary whereby adjustment of the length of said bar elfectsoscillatory adjustment of said. brake beam; a turn buckle interposed insaid bar for effecting longitudinal adjustment thereof; and means onsaid bar for maintaining the same in positions of longitudinaladjustment, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a brake rigging for railway cars comprising abrake beam having brake shoes, said beam being mounted for adjustmenttoward and from the peripheries of the car wheels adapted to be engagedby said brake shoes, said brake beams being mounted for oscillatorymovement for efiecting adjustment of the positions of said brake shoesrelative to said wheel peripheries, of a bar having its lower endeccentrically connected with said brake beam and having its upper endheld stationary whereby adjustment of the length described.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LOUIS E. oLIvER. ALBERT OURETON.

\Vitnesses JOSHUA R. H. Por'rs, W. C. SMITH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

* Washington, D. G.

